The “Immortal Six Hundred” and the Failure of the Civil War POW Exchange Process
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About the Book
Compounding the devastating tragedy of the Civil War was the failure of the warring parties to maintain a system for exchange of prisoners of war, rather than imprisoning combatants for the duration. This failure added at least 56,000 deaths to those accumulating on the battlefield and caused the untold suffering of many thousands more. This book focuses on 600 Confederate officers, made prisoners of war, who were dispatched to Charleston Harbor to act as human shields, and were subsequently imprisoned elsewhere and deliberately starved nearly to death. These actions were the result of the breakdown of the exchange cartel, as well as the “retaliation” policies promoted by the Secretary of War and the Lincoln administration.
About the Author(s)
Bibliographic Details
John F. Schmutz
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 307
Bibliographic Info: 43 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2025
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9154-1
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4901-6
Imprint: McFarland
Table of Contents
Preface 1
One. The Captives Gather 5
Two. Prisoners at Fort Delaware 26
Three. The Inception of Retaliation 34
Four. Journey to Morris Island 48
Five. Prison on Morris Island 60
Six. Prisoner Exchanges and the Cartel 85
Seven. Later Prisoner Exchanges 104
Eight. Journey to and Confinement at Fort Pulaski Through 1864 123
Nine. Fort Pulaski through March 1865 156
Ten. Hilton Head Island Prison Camp 176
Eleven. A Sad Return to Fort Delaware 191
Twelve. Fort Delaware 1865 200
Appendix I: Post-Release Sagas 217
Appendix II: Civil War Prisons 233
Chapter Notes 249
Bibliography 281
Index 297
